Welcome to GDS Instruments News - Specialists in Computer Controlled Geotechnical Soil and Rock Testing Systems

TEAM GDS take to the road.

09 May 2013

TEAM GDS will be taking to road on Sunday the 16th of June 2013, as they take part in the London to Brighton bike ride.
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The team of 12 will be cycling 54 miles to raise money on behalf of the british heart foundation. If you would like to sponsor GDS you can donate at their just giving page http://www.justgiving.com/gdsinstruments. A full report and lots of photos will be uploaded after the event.

GDS Analysis Tool Features in Ground Engineering

24 April 2013

The launch of GDS new bender elements analysis tool has been show cased in the recent Ground Engineering magazine.The GDS Bender Element Analysis Tool (GDSBEAT) itself is an easy-to-use set of Add-Ins accessible through Microsoft Excel, allowing any laboratory to participate in performing automated analysis of bender element data, without the prior requirement of software programming knowledge.
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To read the article in ground engineering and to download the FREE bender elements analysis tool, click here.

GDS Exhibit at Geo-Congress 2013, San Diego

04 April 2013

March saw hundreds of delegates head to San Diego for the annual Geo-Congress conference and exhibition on “Stability and Performance of Slopes and Embankments III”. The conference programme included intensive short courses to a comprehensive range of technical sessions including case history evaluation, numerical modeling, field testing, monitoring, rehabilitation amongst others.
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GDS exhibited alongside the conference and boasted a working Automatic Oedometer System (GDSAOS) with their Bender Element System (GDSBES) on their stand. During the conference GDS were running a competition to win an IPAD mini. Entrants had to put their business cards in the cell and wait for the draw. The eventual winner was Bhaskar Chittoori, a Faculty Associate-Res./Lecturer at the University of Texas, Arlington. Bhaskar can be seen with his prize in the picture above. GDS would like to thank everybody who visited the stand, we appreciate it was busy at times, so if you didn’t get a chance to speak with a representative or would like some additional information, you can contact GDS via email info@gdsinstruments.com or by phone on +44 (0)1256 382450.

GDS Launch Three White Papers on Triaxial Testing

28 February 2013

Over the next few months GDS will be releasing a series of white papers within a series entitled “What is triaxial testing”. The papers provide a detailed introduction to the subject of triaxial testing, including the many variations available for assessing soil response across a range of engineering applications. The series is split into the following topics:
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1. Introduction to triaxial testing.

2. Advanced triaxial testing.

3. Dynamic triaxial testing.

The first paper provides an introduction to the triaxial test, explaining why the test is performed, the stress state of a tested soil, required test system components, and the general procedure for running a triaxial test. It assumes a basic knowledge of soil mechanics – for those readers unfamiliar with some terms in this paper, it is recommended they revisit Part One of the GDS Introduction to Soil & Rock Testing series, which briefly covers the key terminology and engineering parameters discussed herein. Click here to download the white paper

Bender Element Test Analysis Software article features in theGeotechnica

05 February 2013

Bender Element Test Analysis Software Development for Laboratories - Karl Snelling and Dr Sean Rees, Managing Director and Geotechnical Specialist at GDS Instruments discuss the test analysis software development for laboratories that has been developed to interpret the data from bender element test analysis.
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Bender element testing has become increasingly commonplace in all soil laboratories since its introduction in the late 1970's by Shirley and Hampton (1978). The test allows straightforward small-strain stiffness measurements to be made in soil specimens and can be performed in a wide variety of test systems. To this day however, there is still no recognised standard for interpreting the data obtained from bender elements tests. To read the rest of the article click here.

GDS Launch New GDS Bender Elements Analysis Tool

24 January 2013

The subjectivity and lack of satisfactory standards for interpreting shear wave travel times across the industry from bender element test data, has led GDS to develop a bender elements analysis tool. The tool allows the rapid, automated analysis of bender element tests to objectively estimate the shear wave travel time.
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The analysis tool is available to download below for limited period of time. The aim is to share our software with the geotechnical community and help the progression towards accepted standards for these tests. We are happy for customers to distribute the tool but are reminded the purpose of the tool is to create discussion rather than consider this the final word in automated bender element analysis.

The GDS Bender Element Analysis Tool (GDSBEAT) tool itself is an easy-to-use set of Add-Ins accessible through Microsoft Excel, allowing any laboratory to participate in performing automated analysis of bender element data, without the prior requirement of software programming knowledge. Benefits of the tool include its ability to estimate travel times using both frequency and time domain analysis methods previously suggested in the geotechnical literature, and the flexibility to analyse data taken from any manufacturers bender element test system. Reporting of the analysis is both numerical and visual, allowing the validity of the results to be quickly assessed, as the tool still does require engineering judgement from the user.

Click here download the Free Software